How to spot a misleading graph –

Lea Gaslowitz

VOCABULARY
1. Put words/phrases in the correct column.
stabilize rocket plummet reach a peak fluctuate
increase decrease drop grow fall rise
level off climb decline plunge recover

GO UP GO DOWN

2. Study the table and rewrite the sentences given below.

NOUNS VERBS
There was an increase in sales.
Sales increased by 20%.
There was a decrease of 20%.
There was a sharp increase. Sales increased sharply.

a) Last year, the sales of mobile phones went up dramatically.

Last year, there was _____________________________________________
b) As you can see, there was a fall in the price of oil last quarter.
As you can see, the price of oil _____________________________________
c) In 2002, we observed a rise in our production of 15%.
In 2002, our production ___________________________________________
d) There was a slight drop in profits.
Our profits _____________________________________________________

Created by ESLbrains.com
 How to spot a misleading graph –
Lea Gaslowitz

3. Write a description for the graph showing the sales (in million $) of ABC
Ltd company.

___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
4. Work in pairs. One of you should describe a graph and the other should
draw that graph below.

Created by ESLbrains.com
 How to spot a misleading graph –
Lea Gaslowitz

VIDEO & DISCUSSION

5. Watch the video and complete these sentences with one word each.
a) Yet, as it turns out, there are plenty of ways graphs can _____________ and
outright manipulate.
b) This is one of the most common ways graphs misrepresent data, by
_____________ the scale.
c) First of all, the scale is _______________, compressing the 15-month span
after March 2009 to look shorter than the preceding six months.
d) And picking specific data points can ________ important changes in between.
e) The first graph plots the average annual ocean temperature from 1880 to
2016 making the change look _______________.
f) When they're used well, graphs can help us intuitively grasp _________ data.

6. Match words which you wrote down in exercise 5 with their synonyms.
 complicated –
 unimportant –
 cover –
 illogical –
 change –
 cheat –

7. Discuss:
 Do you agree with the statements that “numbers don’t lie”?
 What is cherry picking according to the video?
 In which situations can we receive misleading data? Why would some
people like to hide some of it? (think about the video + your own
examples)
 How often do you see distorted or inconsistent graphs?
 Do you think people should be punished for misrepresenting data given
to the public?

Created by ESLbrains.com